Skyfall with Tim, Søren, and Todd

Tim’s Review

Though it contains many of the high-energy action sequences and traditions that we’ve come to expect from Bond flicks, Sam Mendes’s movie plays more like a thriller/art-film, than an action movie, exploring death, resurrection, and an underlying theme of old versus new. Despite the obviousness of these themes, I never felt like I was being beaten over the head with them. Mendes manages to handle these themes deftly, tying them all up in a final act so glorious and unexpected that it would be a sin to spoil anything about it.

What makes Skyfall so great is that like Casino Royale before it, Skyfall succeeds at getting us invested in the well-being of Bond and the characters around him. After taking a bit of a hiatus in Quantum of Solace, we’re back on the path of discovering what makes Bond Bond once again. All in all, Skyfall is visually beautiful, brilliantly acted, action-packed, and quite possibly the best of all 23 Bond films (if one is allowed to say that of a 007 movie that does not feature Sean Connery).

This may be the defining Bond film for our generation.

Tim’s Verdict: [Glorious] Movie WinTim’s Score:93%

Søren’s Review

Skyfall is a gorgeous film. Roger Deakin’s (Shawshank Redemption) fingerprints are all over the cinematography, and Thomas Newman’s (American Beauty) score fits the tone of Skyfall perfectly. Nevertheless, a movie is more than its dressings, and unfortunately I can’t say I was overwhelmed with the actual content of the film. The pacing is off, dragging until Javier Bardem gets a chance to light up the screen, and the plot is overly predictable in ways that directly echo other modern action films like The Dark Knightand The Avengers.

Craig is back as Bond, and does an admirable job giving his character as much humanity as he can within the confines of the somewhat pedestrian script. But at the end of the day, it is very much apparent that Skyfall was written by the same folks who gave us the last two Craig films; halfway-decent dialogue paired with ho-hum stories.The final result is a film which constantly refers to the “good ol’ days” of Bond, without ever taking cues from those films to make what should have been a much better entry into the 007 œuvre.

Søren’s Verdict: Movie Win
Søren’s Score: 81%

Todd’s Review

Skyfall was the best James Bond film I have seen in a few years for several reasons. It had a better plot than the last few Bond movies, and the action scenes managed not to distract the audience from the main story line. We got to see the rogue James Bond portrayed by the couple of directors turn back into the classic patriotic spy we know and love. The addition of some of the original 007 supporting characters confirms the franchise’s return to classic Bond.

As someone who saw the film in Jordan, it was a bit different to see the film with the sexual and alcoholic scenes edited out. I knew going into the film that movies were edited to be more “appropriate” in predominantly Islamic countries. When watching the film I felt that they did a good enough job to not let the edits hurt the film but I think not showing the sexual scenes does take away from the tone of the character of James Bond. One of the trademarks of James Bond is that he is a womanizer; a man who, while on a mission, still finds the time to flirt and have sex. For a 007 fan such like myself, I knew what was cut and therefore I could tolerate the censorship. But for the casual moviegoer, I couldn’t help but to feel like they weren’t getting the full picture.

Todd’s Verdict: Movie WinTodd’s Score:90%

Podcast Review

WARNING: Spoilers abound in the podcast, so wait until after the film if you’d like some things to remain a surprise.